The overall goal of this intervention grant is to improve health access and status for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Filipino Americans living in the NYC and Jersey City through the use of community health workers (CHW). This application has three specific aims: 1.) To adapt an existing CHW intervention using descriptive research and pilot intervention findings from the three-year planning grant project. 2.)To utilize the results of Specific Aim 1 to implement and assess the efficacy of a CHW intervention to improve hypertension management and access to care among Filipino Americans living in New York and New Jersey. 3.) To assess the feasibility of using a CBPR approach to implement and sustain a CHW intervention to improve hypertension management among Filipinos Americans. Year 1 focuses on completing the pilot intervention, data analysis, and adapting the intervention for full implementation in years 2-4. The fifth year will be focused on evaluating the efficacy of the intervention, and planning the dissemination of the research findings. Kalusugan Coalition will be the lead community partner on this grant. A randomized controlled trial will be conducted wherein hypertensive Filipino American men and women ages 25-75 will be recruited at community health screenings and randomized into a more intensive and less intensive CHW intervention with a final sample size of 202 individuals in each study arm. The CHWs implementing the more intensive intervention will provide 8 health education sessions, 6 individual monthly sessions, follow up calls and referrals. The more intensive intervention sessions will focus on (a) providing information on high blood pressure and CVD, (b) linking and negotiating access to a primary care physician, (c) providing social support, and (d) assuring adherence to medication taking and appointment keeping. A baseline and follow up interviews will be conducted to assess client outcomes, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure and adherence to medication taking and appointment keeping. RELEVANCE: Filipino Americans exhibit high rates of hypertension and are therefore at high risk for CVD and stroke. However, few interventions have been developed and implemented for this population to address these concerns. A CHW intervention, developed with community input to ensure its cultural and linguistic appropriateness, has the potential to prevent CVD and stroke by helping Filipino Americans control their blood pressure. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]